You may have already guessed this, but I am not a summer person! The crisp winter weather is much more my style. However, one thing I do like about this blessedly short season of summer is all the fresh vegetables.

We signed up for the summer CSA program through Grey Arrow Farms this year, and the veggies have been amazing. Beets, carrots, lettuce, micro-greens, radishes, swiss chard, and more have been filling our fridge, With the little heat we’ve had, my itty bitty garden has finally started to grow, so I have an abundance of thyme, rosemary, & basil. The hot weather also comes with the staggering urge to avoid turning on the oven at all.

Life is not worth living if I cannot have pasta or bread again.

— Monica Seles

The solution to all the summer cooking woes is pasta salad. That’s right. Pasta. Salad. You can make a gigantic pot of pasta and throw in all your veggies & herbs and live off sweet, delicious carbs for the next week. Here’s how to make it:

Start off by cooking as much pasta as humanly possible. Use whatever variety speaks to you - fusilli, spaghetti, orzo, macaroni…the possibilities are endless.

Cut up a ton of veggies & throw them in a bowl with the noodles. Add some fresh herbs. Toss in some cubed cheese (or meat, if that’s your jam). Go crazy.

Think about what sort of sauce you love. Put that sauce on your pasta salad.

It really is that simple. I’ve posted three of my fav combos below - try them all, or make up your own!